The National Assembly, Vietnam’s parliament, issued a statement to protest China’s illegal deployment of a mobile oil rig into Vietnamese waters before wrapping up its one-month session on Tuesday.

During the closing ceremony, house speaker Nguyen Sinh Hung said the body had met as dangerous, unpredictable and complicated developments were unfolding in the region following China's illegal incursion into Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf on May 2.

The rig's deployment not only violated Vietnam's independence, sovereignty but threatened the international freedom of navigation in the East Sea (AKA the South China Sea), he said.

The house speaker affirmed that China’s move gravely violated international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC).

It also went against high-level bilateral agreements governing the settlement of territorial and maritime disputes and deeply damaged the spirit of friendship and camaraderie between the two peoples, he said.

The national legislature also issued a statement clarifying its stance on the issue, protesting China’s illegal acts and demanding it immediately withdraw the rig and avoid violating Vietnam's sovereignty, Hung said.

“The National Assembly calls on Vietnamese people inside and outside Vietnam to unite to support the Party and State’s policies and protect the country’s sovereignty,” he said.

He also thanked international organizations and foreign friends who have shown their support for Vietnam and raised their voice to protest China’s provocative actions in the East Sea.